This week's panel suggested by

Tom Harris

  • Drew Hart-Shea (sort of)
  • Matt Ryan (sort of)
  • Michael Avolio
  • Geoff
  • Kean Soo

AND

  • Jonathan Bogart and
  • Yours Truly on this week's VISUAL SIDEBARS.



Happy Halloween!

Here we are at the close of Section 4; it was exactly one year ago that we closed out Section 1 (with Neil Gaiman's memorable suicide panel -- suggested at midnight no less). What a long strange trip it's been!!

As always, suggestions are listed in the order they were received. Thanks for playing and please join us again Sunday, NOVEMBER 14 for the unveiling of SECTION 5!

--Scott
Sunday 10/31/1999



Tom Harris

  • Carl with dazed look..."This deja-vu is getting out of hand! I don't know if I can take this anymore!!...erk!! aneurysm!!"

    And in case it isn't too obvious...

  • The familiar car crashing into a tree panel


Zack Adgie

    She didn't say anything about drinking and submitting CYOC suggestions!

  • "Help! I've burst into flame!" (Well, he is in Hell, after all, right?)
  • Carl layin facedown on the floor with a bottle of vodka in one hand and what appears to be a perscription bottle in the other... "They didn't say (hic) anything about drinking and Quaaludes!"
  • (clutching chest) "Wait! I'm in Hell! That means I'm..."
  • Carl tries drinking his keys and putting the can in the ignition.
  • (Swaying violently, Stihl in hand) "What about drinking and operating a chainsaw?"
  • Or maybe a shot taken from the backseat of carl obliviously driving, bottle in hand, towards a tree.
  • Carl gets hit by his drunk driving Mother.
  • Carl becomes the victim of a car bomb placed by Fanatical Muslim Zealots(tm).
  • It's too late to use the "Oh look! Nuclear missiles!" one either...
  • Carl sitting at computer: "Ooo! choose...your...own...carl... looks like fun!"


Greg Lam

  • Carl, totally tanked, hangs out with his "buddy", the equally tanked one-eared rabbit from Groenig's "Life in Hell" as hellfire flickers all about them. Carl: "Man, this sucks. How do you deal with it?"


Jason Arnett

  • Carl slams the beer the Devil has handed him and says "Ah, what does she know anyway?"


Bill Schlimme

  • Live Carl crashes into the suitably hellish hot rod of Devil Carl: both die.
  • Alternately, Devil Car runs Live Carl down while the latter is heading towards his car.

    Whatever happened to the Angel Carl, anyways?


David Goldfarb

    OK, I'm going to put the really obvious one that everyone's going to suggest first, but I think there are other things that could go in there that are better, and Scott, I trust you to go with something higher-quality and less obvious.

  • Carl behind the wheel holding a can of beer, saying "One beer won't hurt."
  • Carl holding his keys and a beer can. They are in flames, just like the cross above. Carl: "Ah! It burns! It burns!"
  • Carl is camping out; we see him in a sleeping bag. He's just woken up and is saying, "Oh thank goodness! It was only a dream!" Above a giant fiery meteor is about to smash him flat.
  • Carl is holding his car keys and a beer can. He winks at the readers and says, "Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!"

    Let me just add my voice to the chorus out there recommending Alan Moore's "Greyshirt" story in _Tomorrow Stories_ #2. Anyone who's at all interested in how comics work (and that should include everyone reading Carl, right?) *has* to read it.


Mr. ?

    Boo ya!

  • Carl (driving but not drinking his normal car) collides with Carl who's drinking and driving the car from hell (complete with burning stylized red flames and rich corinthian leather)
  • Same as above, but both Carls are drinking.
  • The Devil drops a huge can of beer on Carl's car. Devil: "Welcome to your eternal torture! Mwa ha ha!"


Dark Artist

    Carl speaks to the devil who resembles his mom now, saying:

  • "Why shouldn't I drink and drive? I'm already dead anyway!"

    Carl has become a demon himself in this panel, horns and all! Maybe he could even say, "I'm off to my grave now! Thanks for listening!" Or something like that. Whatever.


Markus Gerwinski

  • Carl in a desert, driving a Jeep, obviously VERY thirsty. Thought balloon: "Promised... not... to... drink..."


Mike Sugarbaker

    Nothing left to do but turn this mother up to 11...

  • Carl is at the controls of an F-16, with the funnel end of a beer bong visibly dangling from his mouth. The F-16 is of course speeding through the caves of Hell like a scene from a bad Star Wars remake. Optional: his mother sits across his lap, terror-stricken.


Travis Pelkie

    what the hell? (BOO on the joke!)

  • Carl drinks, drives, dies.

    Oh, you want more. Just a panel of flames, keeps everything ambiguous. Okay, I'm apparently on the single suggestion page when I wanted the multi one. I think it's this computer. Speaking of ambiguity, how about the Sunday Peanuts strip, with Rerun doing the football thing to Chuck, and not telling Lucy what happened! I'm also finding out some neat stuff about Trajan's column. There was a mention in one book about the boustephedron method of writing (back and forth) and that early Greeks apparently read right to left, so I don't know where or why the change happened. I'll have to look into it when I've got time. And hopefully, unless I wuss out, I'll be attempting a 25 hour comic sunday (halloween)! Bending the rules, yeah, but hey, comics are a growing medium. Someone's got to be a trendsetter.


[So, did'ja go for it, Travis? If so, good luck! --Scott]

terry

  • "you mean after all that, if i said i promised, you'd believe me??"


bryan young

  • carl with gun, says "If I can't drink I have nothing left to live for!"


Michael Patrick

    Hmmm...a simple panel of Carl drinking and driving would connect the threads, but it would be so...unfunny.

  • Carl and his mother and Satan are riding on a three-way bicycle (if a tandem is for two, then what is for three? A Tridem?). They are all about to ride off of a cliff, but the three of them are too damn drunk to notice. In unison they say: Didn't say anything about drinking and riding!
  • Close up on Carl's face with flames in his eyes. Carl: Sure is hot here...I hope I don't...BURST INTO FLAME!!!!!
  • Carl peeks out of panel as if through a window. He is looking down at grave panel. Carl: What a strange feeling-as if someone's stepping on my grave.
  • Narration: Later... Carl in front of his mother. He looks like he's been in a horrible accident. REALLY horrible. The steering wheel is wrapped around his neck. His arm is hanging off by a thread of skin. His eyes are blacked out, his internal organs are showing and his hair is a mess. Carl: I promise Mom. I'll never drink an drive again!


Wu

    I must stress that we must attempt to tie all story threads together before Carl dies--after all y'all put him thru, he at least deserves closure.

  • Carl attempts to drink the blood of a nubile young...well, Daisy, then! Carl attempts to drink the blood of Daisy while driving--while buried in her neck, his eyes are looking up, his thought bubble says, "Uh-oh", and the sound effect is a lound honk...

    (Vampirism, a jilted lover's revenge, irresponsibility, and typical bad Carl judgement...and a weirdo three-panel comic thrown in! 'Tall works.)


Drew Hart-Shea

  • Carl's car is on it's side, wrecked against a tree. Flames flicker from the engine. Carl lies halfway out of the driver's window, mangled on the floor, with a can of beer still clutched in his hand. Carl groans: "Why..? Why didn't I listen to my dear old Mom..?"


Morgan Doninger

    A comment box is a terrible thing to waste.

  • Obvious: CARL is driving drunk towards a car, cliff, three headed dog, whatever.
  • Ridiculous: CARL is stepped on by a pink elephant's foot.
  • Artsy: A split panel of MOM and the DEVIl. MOM looks sad, the DEVIL arrogant. They share a thought ballon with one word in it: "Pathetic."

    My many moods have been reduced to three, oh well.


Drew Hart-Shea

  • aerial long view of Carl's car skidding out of control towards a large rock, on an infernal looking road. The road has the words "good intentions" inscribed in the paving. Carl's voice from the car: " darn it...*hic* I never meant to get so drunk.."


Drew Hart-Shea

    I know it's kind of forbidden, but...

  • Carl's car cruising along an evil, hellish looking road Carl (from within the car): "Help! My car's burst into flame!" huge (animated?) flames flicker from the car's engine...

    come on..! The spontaneous combustion suggestion has got to be legitimate in hell!


Matt Ryan

  • Carl and the car he's driving are crushed by a huge falling can of BUD.
  • Four-part panel consisting of all his other deaths to-date: "pretty...", elephant's foot, CRASH, and "I can't take..."
  • A craftsman is working on a "RIP CARL" gravestone. In small print, he has just carved "He promised."
  • Freshly-covered-grave with RIP CARL headstone. Thought baloon emerging from the ground: "Rats." (Fits with the undead thread.)
  • Carl's car is wrapped around a tree. Thought baloon: "I promise I'll never do that again." (Ironic, or eternal damnation?)
  • This is really hard to render... but I envision Carl a tiny figure walking down a long hallway to oblivion, past different figures who each say, "Promise me...", and responding to each, "I promise." Perhaps a title-bar, reading "Eternity".
  • Carl, a fading figure, points at the reader. "Don't make my mistake!"
  • Carl is a car, an expression of terror on his hood, being driven by a crazed can of BUD straight for a tree. It had to be said.

    Scott- Have you read "Unsound Variations" by George R. R. Martin? I thought of you many times while reading it this week. Excellent chess/revenge story, and if you read it, you'll see why it fits as a comment to a CYOC suggestion post, too. Anthologized in _Portraits of His Children_.


[Thank you for the recommendation, Matt. I'll keep an eye out for that one. --Scott]

Catt jan Roxanne

  • Carl's driving and guzzling a beer, he thinks to himself, "Ya know what, I'm a bad kid."


Travis Pelkie

    Just saw 2 great bands last night, the Lillingtons and Moral Crux. The Lillingtons like comic book stuff.

  • Carl drinks, drives, dies.
  • too easy, but hey, what else can go in there, really? What, does Carl turn into a demon and comes back to try and win the love of Daisy, even though she's married to someone else and has a kid now? Huh?
  • Whoa, gotta calm down. How about Carl gets annoyed that he has no control over his life, and makes a deal with the devil?
  • Too complex for one panel, yeah. How about the panel is just a sound clip of AC-DC's "Highway to Hell"?
  • No, then what if Carl is drunk in the street and gets run over? A strange transition on either side.
  • Man, I'm stumped.

    The button at the bottom of the page that sez multi suggestions leads just to a single suggestion form, you should realize.


[Yup. Sorry about that. I fixed it mid-week. --Scott]

Ross Horowitz

    Ross not feel well.

  • Carl drives off cliff into fiery pit. Maybe Devil laughing in background.


Craig Matthews

  • Carl gets hit by a drunk driver
  • Carl, in his car, sucking down a beer and leaning back triumphantly thinks, "Good this thing has cruise control!"
  • Carl, in his car, sucking down a beer and leaning back triumphantly thinks, "Guess someone never heard of a little thing called cruise control."


Adam Noble

  • Carl drives past his mother's house in a speeding car. "To Hell with safety, Mom!" Car is about to ram into a tree. Carl dies, um... in a rather specific and familiar fashion.


Michael Avolio

    Ah, now this, this is a nice broad area for creativity to thrive in... I may not win, but I'm sure this'll be a panel to be remembered.

  • Obvious: We see Carl's car CRASH! Or Carl, driving: "One drink won't hurt" Or him drinking and driving.
  • Carl pulls out a gun and shoots himself.
  • Close-up on Carl as a gun is stuck in his face.
  • Carl clutches his chest in pain.
  • "TO MAKE A LONG SOTRY SHORT..." The words take up the entire panel, or are said by (you guessed it) Scott McCloud.
  • Mom stands in front of a grave, crying. ("If you'd only listened to me...")
  • Death from above! Death from above!

    Scott -- you hinted at it on this site, Neil Gaiman mentioned it in the intro to his 24 hour comic, but... what is it? WHAT IS "SPATULA"???


["Spatula" is one of several words Albert likes in my mini-comic, "Some Words Albert Likes" --Scott]

James Hofmann

  • Carl: I know! I'll drink BEFORE I drive!


Mr. ?

    Still more suggestions...

  • Carl wakes up in bed, "Gosh, what an awful dream!" But behind his bed is... HELL! Carl really is dead!
  • Carl's car is on fire.


Jimmy Fusil

    Kudos for the "go to hell panel"; a great way to tie both plot lines together.

  • Carl crashes a hellish red dragster (with flames on the side, Coop style) into a rock.
  • Carl behind the wheel with Xed out eyes; we all know what would happen next.
  • Little Devil Carl (from Satan panel), on Carl's shoulder, with evil smirk on his face, holding out a beer and car keys : "Riiiight..."


Geoff

  • The classic car wrapped around a tree panel should do the trick.


Jonathan Bogart

    Short and sweet this week:

  • Closeup of Satan winking at the reader. Possibly, to make it a little more blunt, have a *crash* waft in from off-panel, but is that necessary at this point?

    I had a question I wanted to ask Scott, but I've forgotten it. As you were.


Ignacio Viglizzo

  • Carl appears drivig and drinking. He thinks: "what the hell!"


David Lomax

  • A close-up of Carl's crossed fingers.


Kean Soo

    I hope this makes it in on time... Daylight savings messes with my head.

  • Carl chugs back a beer while driving. Carl: "I can't help it, the Devil made me do it!"
  • Carl: "No beer?!!? I can't go on living life!!" Carl drives the car head on into a tree.
  • Carl behind the wheel, drinking a bottle of vodka. Carl: "They never said what I SHOULDN'T be drinking..."
  • ...And the uninspired suggestion... (sigh) Carl chugs back a beer while driving and crashes.

    So what are people's take on Princess Mononoke? Scott? I'm just really disappointed that they're only showing it in only one theatre here in (and about) Toronto... It really does deserve better coverage than that.

[It hasn't hit our neighborhood at all, so I haven't seen it yet. For those who don't know yet, Neil G. did the english adaptation, a fact Film.Com's reviewer has already noted and lauded as an example of the special care taken with the project. Mononoke is one of two films I'm dying to see soon. The other is Being John Malkovitch. --Scott]




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